2012 – Page 40 – Anole Annals

Crowdsourcing Anole Dewlap Photos

On March 11, 2012

I come to you, anologists of the world, with a request for your photos of anole dewlaps. I’m planning a study of dewlap size evolution across the Anolis phylogeny, but there’s not much data available for many of the less common species. I know many anole-hunters take pictures of their quarry with dewlaps extended after catching them, so I thought I’d try to extract data (e.g. dewlap length and area) from a collection of photos. If you have photos you might be able to share, please read on, and feel free to contact me if you have questions.

Requirements:

-The photo should show a live, adult male caught in the wild. Its dewlap should be fully extended – ideally either of its own volition or with tweezers, but fingers are ok as long as at least 90% of the dewlap area is visible.

-The anole’s entire head should be in the photo (so I can scale dewlap size relative to head size). If there’s a ruler or object of known length in the photo that’s even better.

-The photo should be close to a side-view profile (give or take no more than about 10 degrees angle in any direction).

-At a minimum, identify the species and the approximate location (country or island). Please do include any extra information you can share (e.g. date, latitude/longitude/altitude, snout-vent length of anole, weather…), but I know this may not be available for all the photos.

Clearly I’m new to this – any photo better than this one should be useable.
Check out the comments section of this post for some better examples.

If you have one or more suitable photos you can contribute, please send them to me as an attachment to an e-mail. If you have large files or many photos (more than ~5MB) that may not make it through e-mail servers, drop me a line and I’ll send you a link to a Dropbox folder instead. If you are willing to give permission to use the photo (with full credit, of course) in potential blog posts, web pages (e.g. Encyclopedia of Life entries), or publications, please say so in the e-mail; otherwise I will only use the photos to extract basic measurements.

Oldie But Goodie: Anolis on the Cover of National Geographic

By Jonathan Losos

On March 10, 2012

In All Posts

Lot of talk on this site about the deserved prevalence of anoles on the cover of major periodicals (most recently here). I thought it might be useful to remember what I consider to be the greatest anole cover of all time. The answer, incidentally, is “no.” And the species? Anolis garmani from Jamaica.

On Sexual Selection in Anolis

By Yoel Stuart

On March 9, 2012

In Classics from the Literature, Natural History Observations

"Fig. 33. Sitana minor. Male, with the gular pouch expanded (from Gunther's 'Reptiles of India')."

In The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex (1871), Darwin laid out his ideas about sexual selection. Darwin believed that sexual selection was distinct from natural selection; while natural selection operates through survival and fecundity, sexual selection operates through differences in mating success among individuals.

The puzzle that Darwin set out to solve was the existence of traits like the peacock’s tale or the elk’s antlers. These traits differ between sexes but aren’t related directly to mating. And, these traits appear to be quite costly. Darwin reasoned that these costly traits must benefit the bearer in some way related to mating success. Most likely, these benefits accrued during battle with other members of same sex for mates or during the courtship of the opposite sex. In both cases, having the costly trait benefitted an individual’s mating success beyond the incurred survival or fecundity cost.

Now, how does this discussion relate to anoles?

Film on the Yasuni Region of Ecuador

By Alex Gunderson

On March 8, 2012

In Notes from the Field

Hello anolers. A friend of mine named Ryan Killackey is making a documentary film about the Yasuni region of Ecuador, home to indigenous tribes and incredible biodiversity (including anoles!). The region is also, not surprisingly, under pressure for development and the film is documenting that struggle.

More On The Sad Anole Merchandise Situation

By Jonathan Losos

On March 8, 2012

In Anoles in Commerce

A year ago, AA lamented that in Costa Rica, land full of wonderful anoles, there was scarcely an anole piece of merchandise for the anole-entranced ecotourist to purchase. More recently, we commented that not only was the same true in the Dominican Republic, another bastion of anolishness, but that tourist marts were full of merchandise sporting green iguanas, an invasive species in that country.

On my recent trip to Aruba and Curaçao in quest of A. lineatus, I took time out to survey the lizard merchandise situation. Intrepidly venturing into one souvenir shop after another, powering through crowded stalls in outdoor crafts marts, I comprehensively surveyed the supply of schlock, tchotke and junk. It wasn’t easy, but I got through it all. And the result is clear: despite their prehistoric ugliness, green iguanas are all the rage.

Iguanas out of control in the ABC Islands.

Do Anoles Produce Ultrasonic Hissing Noises?

By alexiss

On March 7, 2012

In Anole Annals Trivia

It has recently come to my attention that several websites (e.g. wikipedia) report that male anoles produce ultrasonic hisses while fighting. I’ve been trying to track down the source of this information, but I can’t find any reference to ultrasonic sound production in anoles in the scientific literature. Does anyone know the source of this information? Can anyone confirm that anoles are capable of producing ultrasonic sounds? I’d be grateful to anyone who can shed any light on this rumor.

Republican Primary Politics Explainable By Reference To Lizard Ecology

By Jonathan Losos

On March 6, 2012

In Anoles and Anolologists in the News

If this is Ron Paul, what ecomorph is Rick Santorum?

Holy smokes! It turns out that Republican electoral dynamics are completely explicable by reference to…Anolis lizard community ecology! So says noted Stanford ecologist Marc Feldman. Santorum, Paul and Romney are specialized to use different niches, and Gingrich apparently is a generalist that is having trouble competing with the specialists. Given that Feldman is from Stanford, he probably had the Lesser Antilles in mind, given the work of Joan Roughgarden. But given that there are three extant “specialists,” and that the Lesser Antilles never sport more than two species, comparison to the Greater Antilles is probably more apt, which leads to the question: which ecomorph do each of the candidates represent?

The Hi-Tech World of Anole Paleontology

By Emma Sherratt

On March 6, 2012

In All Posts, Lizards in an Evolutionary Tree

Previously, I reviewed what we currently know about anole fossils – these fossils are preserved in amber, a fossilised tree sap/resin from Mexico and the Dominican Republic (like the one pictured right). Today, I want to share how I have been using high resolution x-ray computed tomography, a.k.a CT scanning to look at these fossils and so peer into the past.

Background to CT scanning Amber

CT scanning involves x-raying an object from many angles, and then compiling these x-rays to reconstruct 3D models of the object (more detailed description here). CT scanning works when the object being scanned is made of different materials that each absorb x-rays differently. Think of a medical x-ray; skin absorbs far fewer x-rays than bone, so the two show up as different shades of grey on the developed x-ray.

The inclusions in amber are usually subfossils, where organic material still remains (e.g., bone).

Crouching Anolis, Hidden Dragon: The Stunning Sequel to Clash of the Anole Titans

By Jonathan Losos

On March 5, 2012

In Natural History Observations

Clash of the Anole Titans

From the author of “Clash of the Anole Titans” comes this poetic tale of youth redeemed, power lost, and grace under pressure. Don’t miss it.

Caught in the Act: Anole Sex and Post-coital Behavior

By Rich Glor

On March 4, 2012

In Notes from the Field

Anole Annals has certainly had its share of posts about anole sex (e.g., 1, 2, 3, 4). Today I’m posting another photo of anoles having sex along with a rare shot of the immediate aftermath. As you can see in the photo on the right of a pair of Anolis chlorocyanus from the Dominican Republic, the male’s hemipenis generally remains exposed for a few a seconds after mating. During this time, the male tends to walks awkwardly away from the female while raising his pelvis off the substrate to get his junk in order.

Year: 2012 Page 40 of 47